Rating: 
Summary: Finally after all of the hogwash, some common sense!
Review: I have bought most every diet or exercise book on the market. And at a point in my struggle when I desperately needed to see the light, Jim Karas provided it. Despite all of my searching, there is no magic trick, it's just calories in vs. calories out. He helped me to finally "flip the switch" and to accept that this is a lifestyle, not a diet. The advice is medically sound, he makes no wild claims, just the truth about losing weight. If you create a caloric deficit, you lose. If not... I even started wearing a too-tight watch to remind myself, that "I'm in the weight-loss business".
Rating:
Summary: Great Starting Point for Me!
Review: My prepregnancy weight was a huge 245. Today my daughter is 7 weeks old and I'm down to 226. I still have a long road, but it was a long road here. I love this book. Looking at the author's photo, it makes me think Steve looks like he had no friends in high school and is a definite type A personality, but his ideas rang true and I'm motivated and pumped. I tell all my friends, GET THIS BOOK!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Good motivational message plus solid information
Review: The nutrition, exercise and diet info is solid, well-researched and up to date with the latest info (even suggesting such tidbits as drinking green tea with each meal to burn an extra 50 calories more a day). The author also looks at the latest diet fads and reveals the myths behind the worst of them. The motivational messages are (no surprise) written from a "business plan" point of view but should work for those who need that daily affirmation of their "game plan" to keep them on track or for those who need a tough love approach to stay on track. The author's no nonsense, pull no punches style may be just the thing for some reluctant wanna-be fitness buffs. If that fits your profile, this is just the book for you. Otherwise, you'll find the same basic info in other books out there.
Rating:
Summary: A good place to start
Review: For someone who is overweight and out of shape, this book is a good place to start. The idea of comparing a workout and diet regimen to a business plan is a novel idea, but it's the only gimick in the book. The workout is simple and can be done at home with only a few relatively inexpensive pieces of equipment. The eating plan is also simple and repeatedly hammers across the point that you really do need to count and cut calories to lose weight, there's no way around it. In this age where you're constantly being told that you can eat all you want as long as it's low in fat or low in carbs, it's a dose of much-needed common sense. Karas also stresses the importance of putting things into writing, both what you eat and the excercise you do. Yes it's a pain, but it really helps because the very fact that you are observing a behavior tends to change it. The only thing I wish I could have seen are more specific workout options, both free weights and machines. For those of us who already belong to a gym, I would have liked Karas to talk about how to get the most out of our memberships
Rating: 
Summary: Some good info, but bus. plan metaphor is tiresome
Review: This book contains good basics (e.g. calories in vs. calories out). It helps you calculate your calorie expenditure and figure out how much you can eat. The information seems sound. I have two main objections to the book. First, he spends a lot of time explaining business terminology and cramming dieting into a business model framework. If you have even a rudimentary knowledge of business terms, you quickly get tired of his long explanations. Second, his exercise routines seem designed primarily to drive sales of the exercise equipment he shows in the book. This is a good business plan for his wallet. I think the book would have been better if he had offered weight exercises that did not depend on his special equipment.
Rating:
Summary: The best book of this type I've seen
Review: For those who have read and tried everything under the sun to try to lose weight, this may very well be the book that gets you on track. It is the most intelligent, well written, and medically sound diet/fitness book that I've come across. It is exceptionally well-organized, and reflects the author's considerable experience. Most incredibly, it has none of the "filler" that these kinds of books are known for.
Here are a couple of items to whet your appetite: 1) for weight loss, strength building exercise is far more important than aerobic activity; and 2) if you don't actually write down what you're eating, your odds of success are greatly reduced.
Rating:
Summary: Jim Karas can help you find your focus
Review: I have tried to continue to stay fit in my 20s and 30s by running and doing aerobics on and off for years. However, I never thought about how I truly looked or felt until I saw Jim Karas on Good Morning America. His question to Diane Sawyer, "Do you really want to look like that?" resonated with me. I bought Karas' book and read it in one sitting. Though the subjects he discusses--among them, strength and resistance training, calories, food, etc--are not new, his approach is. Food is "revenue." Muscle is "capital." Weight-loss is "profit." Calories out are "expenses." You are "CEO" of your body. Somehow this made sense to me in a way it never had before. Karas crystalizes the idea that getting fit and taking care of yourself is not something you try for two weeks or two months. It must become part of your life and, as Karas repeats throughout the book, to stay on plan, you must stay focused on "calories in - calories out = body weight". You are either on plan or not on plan--the switch is either "on" or "off." You realize that, like it or not, there is no "in between." Previously, I thought I could exercise when I had time or felt like it, eat like an 18-year-old at age 33, exercise to eat...and still be fit. Not so. Is fitness and/or weight-loss simple? No. The hard part is flipping the switch, being real with yourself, and staying focused. Karas provides a plan for being "in the weight-loss business" (what I have also termed being in the "fitness" business). He gives terrific examples from experiences with clients and from his own fitness journey. Karas' approach is appealing to goal-oriented people because he helps you establish realistic goals, get on plan, and stay focused. He is also brutally honest. Weight-loss is not magic. You must be ready to embrace a plan and take responsibility for your own fitness. When I purchased this book, I was just beginning work with a one-on-one trainer at a fitness/wellness center. The book helped me make a connection between my lifestyle (too much aerobic exercise, not enough strength training, too much food/overeating) and why I didn't look the way I wanted. It helped me calculate my basal metabolic rate and the total calories burned each day--something I'd never thought about . Being a woman, I also gained new insight into how much muscle women lose as we age and what we can do about it. Anyone who is serious about fitness and/or weight-loss but who may need the information presented in a different way to get on plan and stay on plan should give this book a try.
Rating:
Summary: the best most fun fitness book ever
Review: I have bought almost every fitness book on the market as obesity runs in my family and I am constanly fighting both genetic and behavioral tendencies. THis book has motivated me and got me off of all those quick fix weight loss programs. I love the exercizes - especially the ball which has helped strengthen my back as well. Jim Karas says it like it is and what ever I have done to follow his regime has worked in a very short time. I am getting stonger, watrching my calories and losing weight at a wonderful pace. Can't wait for the next book or video
Rating:
Summary: Same old stuff with a twist
Review: Nothing new here. I find it puzzling that someone with no formal education in exercise and/or nutrition can command 10K per week for nothing more than a different approach to the same old thing. That is, calories in vs. calories out.
Rating:
Summary: Common sense, new positioning
Review: The weight-loss strategies presented in this book are simple, straightforward and most importantly, nothing but common sense!! You don't need this book to help you lose weight--you can do it on your own after some thoughtful reflection of what is necessary to achieve your goals. For those individuals who truly need things to be positioned in the style of business strategizing and so on in order for them to make an impact, then ok, go for it, whatever it takes. For everyone else, don't waste the time sitting and reading this book, start moving instead!
| 
